This page is a compendium of items of interest - news stories, scurrilous rumors, links, academic papers, damnable prevarications, rants and amusing anecdotes - about LAUSD and/or public education that didn't - or haven't yet - made it into the "real" 4LAKids blog and weekly e-newsletter at http://www.4LAKids.blogspot.com . 4LAKidsNews will be updated at arbitrary random intervals.

The board vote took place about 7:30 p.m. in executive session, which came after a lengthy board meeting. Board member Richard Vladovic had been called away for a personal emergency and was not present for the vote.

Deasy was promoted to the $330,000-a-year superintendent's job in April 2011 after serving 10 months as second-in-command to LAUSD veteran Ramon Cortines. He'd been recruited in 2010 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation after a nationwide search determined he was the only candidate considered capable of fixing LAUSD's problems.

An earlier version of the story incorrectly reported that Deasy had received a three-year contract.

smf: I don’t recall that “nationwide search”.

Were Mayor Tony, Monica Garcia and Eli Broad the search committee?

Did the search take longer than ten minutes?

smf/4LAKids does not believe that extending the contract of the superintendent is a legitimate use of the Brown Act/Open Meeting Law exemption for personnel matters.

The Board only has two mandated functions under law.

Hiring and firing the superintendent and

approval and oversight of the school district budget.

The superintendent is not a protected employee – he or she is a contractor and performance review and contract approval should be conducted in a properly noticed open meeting with public input.